Although the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 along party lines Friday to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate, there's a caveat: the FBI will likely be enlisted to do more investigating into the sexual assault allegations against the judge.
This situation is both fluid and unprecedented, but Republican Sen. Jeff Flake gave his support to Kavanaugh in committee with the stipulation that the final floor vote is delayed for a week while the FBI conducts a background investigation that’s "limited in time and scope," as Flake put it. GOP leadership had been promising a final floor vote by Tuesday, but Flake implied he had the votes to block Kavanaugh's confirmation if an FBI investigation isn't undertaken.
Republicans on the committee seemed resigned to the delay. Even hot-headed South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters immediately following the vote: "What Jeff is saying makes sense to me." Then Graham added, "Somebody's got to explain this to Trump. I guess that's my job."
Of course, Trump will have to request the FBI investigation Flake is asking for. Again, Flake's leverage comes from the votes he presumably has to block Kavanaugh's confirmation absent that inquiry. Flake was seen huddling this morning with other fence-sitter Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Following the new developments, both Murkowski and Manchin signaled support for Flake’s proposal.
A procedural vote was scheduled for Saturday, but it’s unclear whether that will proceed. Even Murkowski indicated she wasn’t yet sure how she would vote on the motion to proceed, the precursor to any floor vote.
A lot of unknowns still exist, including whether Trump will make good on ordering the investigation and exactly what might be investigated. “Limited in scope,” the phrase of choice, could mean any number of things, but the most obvious is that the inquiry would be limited specifically to the allegation made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.